Not A Mystery Anymore

 I finished the quilt top for the Annual Bonnie K Humter Mystery Quilt Along.  

This is the top before quilting. 

It came out pretty good. I like the borders the best I think. But I also know that I'll be losing those points in my binding. Oh well!

I got ready to load her up on Freddie, but I had a bad sound when I tried to roll him along the rails. UhOh! 

So I figured it was one of the front wheels, so I called APQS Support, and they sent me an email with the directions on how to fix it. Nothing too hard, really! BUT...one little thing, this screw. There are two screws that need to be removed from this aluminum rail guide, I got one out with no problem, but the other one? NO WAY! I stripped that screw head so bad! 

It's in an awkward place underneath the machine, my drill was too bulky to get a good grip on the screw head, I went on line to see what folks were saying to do about a stripped screw head, and then I ordered a screw extractor from Amazon. It came, and Thursday I gave it a go. No luck. SO I headed to my local hardware store and got a different kind of extractor and new screws. And since I was in the neighborhood, I stopped at Lowes and got a 3rd kind of extractor. 

I tried my best, but gave up and called my back up. Ben. He came over and just like that he got that dang thing out! He's magical. BTW the one that worked was the Speed Out Pro.

Just look at this little bugger! GGGRRRRRRR! 

 Got the wheel tightened back up and Freddie is back in business. 

I didn't have free time to quilt until Saturday, but I got going right away!

I had updated Quilt Path to the new version, so I was hoping all would go well. 
And it did! 

I pieced a backing for it, I LOVE this print fabric, it's by a designer named Sue Penn freespiritfabrics.com/sue-penn-collections/. I've had this yardage for awhile, and knew I couldn't cut it up, so it made a perfect backing!

I just LOVE IT!

And despite the cold I had to get pictures. 

A little above zero now...better than overnight, it was -12!!

These Bonnie Hunter quilts are always so pretty. A ton of pieces, but it always goes together really smoothly. This one finished at about 80" square. 

I used a new-with-the-update design in Quilt Path. Pearls with Loops. 

And here's the back-I love it maybe more than the front!

Dang, I LOVE this fabric! 

I have a couple more pieces of Sue Penn fabric, it might be coming up on a back soon!

Bonnie K Hunter Mystery Quilt Called Old Town

 It's done!

The Old Town Mystery Quilt is finished. This quilt along started at Thanksgiving time last year and I just finished it.

I chose the Twist Feather Curl pattern from the built in designs on Freddie. 

This is the biggest quilt I've done on Freddie so far!

It's about 90" wide and square before quilting and finishing.

I used plain light gray minky for the backing. I couldn't find any other color wide backing.

Oopsy, it's been snowing and melting a few days now and of coursr, I had to flop one end onto the deck mess. 

Well, into the washer she goes!

Washes up great! Nice and crinkly like I like. 

You can see the quilting design better here. 

I like the way it came out and I'm glad to be done with this one!

Now on to the next project! But I need to tend to hubby for a day or two. He slipped in the ice and has a pretty bruised hip. 

Cinnamon Rolls and A Finish!

Hubs made me cinnamon rolls the other day-aren't they delicious looking? Well let me tell you, they were delicious!

Remember the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt called Chilhowie? I've got it done and decided to have a professional long armer quilt it.
 

Such bright cheery colors, and A LOT of pieces!

SO I found the resources list in the All Iowa Shop Hop Magazine from last year and there's a lady over in Mt Vernon. So I met her over at Helio's Quilt Shop in Mt Vernon-one of my favorite places- Happiness by Design, Owner, Debbie talked me through her process and we chose a design that she had used in a display quilt in the shop, so I got to see it in a whole quilt!  I chose a purple cuddle backing-I ordered it from MSQC. It took a couple weeks to get it! It looks grey in this photo, but it's purple...see the design?

She also gave me thread options and I told her to go for it! It'll look great, and a couple weeks later-IT LOOKS FABOULUS!!!

You can see the quilting design in this photo.

And the design looks really good in these photos.

LOVE< LOVE< LOVE IT! It cost me just a little less than $200, including batting and thread, and I purchased the backing separately.  

Rhododendron Trail Mystery Quilt DONE!

So, remember I posted that I was working on the Bonnie K Hunter Mystery Quilt this year. It's called  rhododendron trail.
 

Well big news! I'm done with it!

Here it is after I got the top together, 

Look at all of those flying geese blocks!!

I always forget how much I like the look of blocks set on pint, but don't really like to DO it!

I love the colors I've go going on here.

I did make a bit of a learning mistake. I made the tiny corner blocks on the sashing  the dark blue color and it blends right into the green and disappears. Such a waste of time to put them in when they disappear!

Oh well, I quilted it with my walking foot on the baby Lock Lyric. Just followed the diagonal lines. It came out great!  I used this cute backing, after DD gave me guilt. I was going to use a bright floral print, and she said it would be aweful....so I caved and went shopping and got this cute fabric from Home Ec in Iowa City. 

It has tiny houses with reindeer and snowmen on it. So cute!

Here I'm quilting away-this is a pretty big quilt, something like 100" x 84".

It took some serious muscling it around, but I got it done! I waited a few days for a day when it wasn't quite so cold outside to get an outdoor picture of the whole thing.  

Here it is on the muddy, snowy hillside.

You can see the true colors so much better, and you can also see that I used more than one neutral white color.

Oh well, it is what it is. 

All in all it was a good quilt, nice big blocks. The Mystery quilt is available for free until Sunday at the Quiltville Blog. After Sunday, you'll have to buy it.

Now to get it into the washer to get the mud off.

Crinkly goodness after washing, here we come!

Just for comparison, here's Bonnie K Hunter's original Rhododendron Trail completed, and here's mine. Both are really great looking quilts!